What is the largest bank failure in the US?
The collapse of
The largest bank failure ever occurred when Washington Mutual Bank went under in 2008. At the time, it had about $307 billion in assets. During the uncertainty of the banking crisis, however, Washington Mutual experienced a bank run where customers withdrew almost $17 billion in assets in less than 10 days.
Earlier last year Silicon Valley Bank failed March 10, 2023, and then Signature Bank failed two days later, ending the unusual streak of more than 800 days without a bank failure.
In September of 1873, Jay Cooke & Company [JCC] began having issues marketing railway bonds. Having invested heavily in railroads, JCC became insolvent. On September 18, 1873, they declared bankruptcy. This began a string of bank failures that led to the United States' first great depression.
May 1984. Continental Illinois was one of the largest banks in the United States before nearly failing in 1984. Federal regulators sought to avoid the bank's failure, which they determined would have resulted in widespread economic harm, by providing the bank with substantial public financial support.
The collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March 2023—then the second- and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history—took consumers by surprise. Subsequently, three more banks failed in 2023: First Republic Bank in May, Heartland Tri-State Bank in July and Citizens Bank of Sac City in November.
2024 in Brief
There are no bank failures in 2024. See detailed descriptions below. For more bank failure information on a specific year, select a date from the drop down menu to the right or select a month within the graph.
The collapses in March of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank – two of the largest U.S. banks to fail since the Great Depression of the 1930s – have led some to wonder if the nation may be headed for a new widespread banking crisis.
Silicon Valley Bank's 48-hour collapse led to the second-largest failure of a financial institution in US history. Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on Thursday, March 9, 2023.
Which banks are going under?
| Bank NameBank | CityCity | Closing DateClosing |
|---|---|---|
| Heartland Tri-State Bank | Elkhart | July 28, 2023 |
| First Republic Bank | San Francisco | May 1, 2023 |
| Signature Bank | New York | March 12, 2023 |
| Silicon Valley Bank | Santa Clara | March 10, 2023 |
- First Republic Bank (FRC) . Above average liquidity risk and high capital risk.
- Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) . Above average capital risk.
- KeyCorp (KEY) . Above average capital risk.
- Comerica (CMA) . ...
- Truist Financial (TFC) . ...
- Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR) . ...
- Zions Bancorporation (ZION) .
Signature Bank: Third-biggest bank failure in U.S. history.
| Bank Name | Press Release | Closing Date |
|---|---|---|
| December Back to Top | ||
| Washington Mutual Bank, Henderson, NV and Washington Mutual Bank, FSB, Park City, UT | PR-085-2008 | September 25, 2008 |
| Ameribank, Inc., Northfork, WV | PR-082-2008 | September 19, 2008 |
| Silver State Bank, Henderson, NV | PR-077-2008 | September 5, 2008 |
September 26, 2008: Washington Mutual went bankrupt and was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after a bank run in which panicked depositors withdrew $16.7 billion in 10 days.
| Institution Name | Failure Date | Total Assets |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Mutual Bank | 9/25/2008 | $307,021,614 |
| First Republic Bank | 5/1/2023 | $212,638,872 |
| Silicon Valley Bank | 3/7/2023 | $209,026,000 |
| Signature Bank | 3/12/2023 | $110,363,650 |
Recently, a report posted on the Social Science Research Network found that 186 banks in the United States are at risk of failure or collapse due to rising interest rates and a high proportion of uninsured deposits.
There were 566 bank failures from 2001 through 2024. See Summary by Year below.
Following one of the most successful years in United's long history, United Bank has been named the Most Trustworthy Bank in America by Newsweek for 2023.
JPMorgan Chase, the financial institution that owns Chase Bank, topped our experts' list because it's designated as the world's most systemically important bank on the 2023 G-SIB list. This designation means it has the highest loss absorbency requirements of any bank, providing more protection against financial crisis.
Can the FDIC run out of money?
Still, the FDIC itself doesn't have unlimited money. If enough banks flounder at once, it could deplete the fund that backstops deposits. However, experts say even in that event, bank patrons shouldn't worry about losing their FDIC-insured money.
Generally, credit unions are viewed as safer than banks, although deposits at both types of financial institutions are usually insured at the same dollar amounts. The FDIC insures deposits at most banks, and the NCUA insures deposits at most credit unions.
RBI continues to classify SBI, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank in the category of D-SIBs. But, what are D-SIBs? These are the banks which are so important for the country's economy that the government cannot afford their collapse. Hence, D-SIBs are thought of as “Too Big to Fail” (TBTF) organisations.
US eases restrictions on Wells Fargo after years of strict oversight following scandal. NEW YORK (AP) — The Biden administration eased some of the restrictions on banking giant Wells Fargo, saying the bank has sufficiently fixed its toxic culture after years of scandals.
Based on the analysis of Bank of America's financial health, risk profile, and regulatory compliance, we can conclude that the bank is relatively safe from any trouble or collapse.
